Cultural intelligence in Mental health Care (Level 2)

This 2 Day virtual webinar program will use the Cultural intelligence (CQ) model to explore culturally intelligent mental health care with Muslim clients and aims to improve Mental health practitioner cultural responsiveness to work more effectively with Australian Muslim clients.

• Why do we need to attend to our client’s culture and our own cultural background in mental health practice?
• How do the concepts of mental ill-health and wellbeing differ among people from different cultural backgrounds?
• How does therapist racial awareness and cultural competence influence the success of therapy for the clients we work with?
• How do Muslims conceptualise symptoms of mental ill-health and what types of help-seeking and coping behaviours might they draw on?

This course builds on the introductory course: Cultural Intelligence in Mental Health Care Level 1 and explores core issues that may be elicited when working with Australian Muslims, common psychological presentations and strategies to engage Australian Muslims in mental health care. Level 1 course completion is not pre-requisite to participation in the Level 2 course. For participants who have not previously attended Level 1, you will be provided with some further introductory readings that will enhance your understanding of concepts covered in Level 2.

About the workshop:

This 6 module webinar series aims to improve Mental health practitioner cultural responsiveness to work more effectively with Australian Muslim clients. This is a wonderful opportunity for mental health practitioners to engage in some reflective cultural self-awareness to improve therapeutic outcomes with Muslim clients. Participants will receive soft copies of resources developed in the project and receive a certificate of completion (CQ2) upon attendance of all sessions.

Learning outcomes:

1. Recognise the role of culture and counsellor cultural responsiveness as an ethical obligation.
2. Understand and apply the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) model as a framework to work effectively with clients in mental health contexts
3. Analyse cultural value dimensions and how they may be used to guide counselling assessment and practice ;
4. Understand sociolinguistics in the counselling room to improve counsellor-client rapport and relationship
5. Apply critical reflection and awareness of self-identity with a view to how that identity can impact one’s counselling practice.
6. Analyse the advantages and limitations of using psychological assessment in a multicultural context
7. Develop an in depth understanding of working effectively with Muslim clients

Target Audience: 

This ONLINE course is suited to a range of mental health practitioners including psychologists, counsellors, support workers, clinical social workers and youth workers.

This course will cover: 

Module 1: Reviewing the CQ model in the Mental health care of Australian Muslims
Module 2: Understanding psycho-social-spiritual coping mechanisms drawn on by Muslims to deal with distress and foster wellbeing. (Part A)
Module 3: Understanding psycho-social-spiritual coping mechanisms drawn on by Muslims to deal with distress and foster wellbeing. (Part B)
Module 4: Empathic confrontation: Challenging cultural scripts for change
Module 5: The psychological impact of Racism, Islamophobia, and stereotypes on Muslim mental health.
Module 6: Culturally intelligent Mental health promotion. Strategies to engage Muslim communities and clients in mental health care.

Cost:

Early-Bird: $200 (Pre March 16th, 2023)

Regular $300 (Post March 16th, 2023)

Dates, Duration & Delivery:

This virtual workshop is run over zoom and will cover 6 modules of CQ Level 2 over 2 days (3 modules per day):

29th of March, 2023: 10am – 4:00pm

30th of March, 2023: 10am – 4:00pm

Registrations:

Registrations close 24th of March 2023. Registrations are essential

Registration Link: Click here to register

Facilitator:

Monique Toohey is a registered Psychologist and certified Cultural Intelligence (CQ) Advisor (USA) and has trained staff from over 360 organisations in cultural competence. For 6 years she was the Lead Lecturer of Multicultural Counselling and Culture and Psychology at the Australian Catholic University and is a regular guest lecturer at universities both nationally and internationally. She has also delivered organisational training programs in Turkey, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Monique is a well-known advocate for Mental health awareness and family violence among Muslim and culturally diverse communities. She also has extensive clinical experience delivering psychological services, assessment and group programs to Muslim clients across the lifespan for the past 25 years. She pioneered psychological services in most Islamic schools across Melbourne and has extensive work experience with Muslim young people, women and couples. She has also provided numerous internships and supervised up and coming psychologists and counsellors from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds for the past 2 decades, many of which launching their own careers in Islamic schools and private practices.

In 2021 she featured in the Amazon Prime Video docuseries titled UNHEARD, which investigated racism in Australia and in 2019 delivered ‘Culture eats individuality for breakfast’ at TEDx Docklands. She is often invited by ABC news to provide psychological insights on a range of topics from mental health to multiculturalism. She has been featured on LateLine, The Australian, The Age, The Herald-Sun, ABC and 3AW radio. She was a speaker at the 2016 Melbourne Writer’s Festival and is the Author of multiple publications.